Biden congratulates Argentina’s Milei but declines to attend the inauguration

The president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, received a call from U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The Democrat congratulated the far-right politician for his victory in Sunday’s presidential election, but declined Milei’s invitation to attend his inauguration on December 10, according to statements made by Milei’s entourage in television interviews. The leader of the La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances) party, who during his campaign underscored his alignment with the United States, said that he will travel to the U.S. before taking office.

Mieli, 53, and Biden, 81, agreed during the call on “the importance of continuing to build strong bilateral relations,” according to a White House statement and a release by La Libertad Avanza. Neither of the two statements alluded to Milei’s invitation for Biden to visit Argentina. However, Diana Mondino, who will be responsible for foreign policy in Argentina’s next administration, said in television statements that Biden rejected Milei’s invitation to attend the inauguration due to agenda issues.

The president-elect of Argentina took advantage of the conversation to recognize the Democrat’s work towards “the release of the hostages held by the terrorist group Hamas,” according to a party statement. During his campaign, Milei stated that his preferred allies will be the United States, Israel and “the free world” in general.

After winning with 56% of the votes in the run-off on Sunday, Milei announced that in the coming weeks he will travel to the United States and Israel. “The trip [...] has a more spiritual connotation than anything else,” he said. Although Milei is a Catholic, years ago he began to approach Judaism and does not rule out converting to this faith in the future. He has also emphasized Israel’s full right “to defend its territory from terrorists” after the Hamas attack on October 7. During his campaign, he maintained that his intention is to move the Argentine Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Calls with Boluarte, Cameron and Zelenskiy

On Wednesday Milei also received a call from the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, with whom he spoke about “the importance of economic growth in the region” and who “expressed her intention to attend the inauguration,“ according to the La Libertad Avanza statement. The president-elect also spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to whom he proposed that Argentina “host a summit between Ukraine and Latin America.” In addition, he was congratulated by the new British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, (the official statement from La Libertad Avanza got his named mixed up with the filmmaker James Cameron, director of Titanic).

Following his victory on Sunday over the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, Milei has also spoken with the former far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who said he will attend the inauguration; with Chile’s president, the leftist Gabriel Boric, who also confirmed his presence on December 10 because relations with Argentina are “a matter of state”; and with the conservative president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, who said he will host a meeting with Milei to go over bilateral issues.

One of the first calls came from the Vatican. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church and himself a native of Argentina, telephoned Milei on Tuesday. The conversation was “cordial,” according to local media. Milei, who had called the pontiff a “filthy lefty” during his campaign, retracted his insults in the final stretch before the election, and has reportedly invited Pope Francis to visit Argentina next year. The Catholic leader has not visited his homeland since he was named pope a decade ago.

Letter from Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter of congratulations to Milei. “I hope that under your leadership, the government and people of your country will achieve new successes in the cause of national construction,” Xi wrote after expressing his willingness to work together “to continue the friendship between both countries, promote development and revitalization of the two countries with win-win cooperation.” Milei recently attacked his two main trading partners, China and Brazil. On Wednesday, a Chinese official noted that breaking off relations would a serious mistake.

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